US Whig Party

The American Whig Party was a liberal political party in the United States that existed from 1833 to 1854. The party was led by Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, both of whom were fierce opponents of the conservative US Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson; the party sought to establish the supremacy of the legislative branch over the executive branch. The Whig Party controlled the government during the presidencies of William Henry Harrison in 1840, Zachary Taylor in 1848, and Millard Fillmore in 1850, and it would fall apart due to internal division caused by the Compromise of 1850. The left-wing faction opposed slavery, while the right-wing faction was in favor of appeasing the South by passing pro-slavery legislation such as the Fugitive Slave Act. The northern voters would flock to the US Republican Party, while the southerners defected to the racist Know Nothings.